Did NBC Cancel Powerless?

In a month or so, most of the fall and midseason shows will have concluded for their summer hiatuses, allowing a smaller squad of top-notch shows to swoop in until everything is back in the fall. From the looks of things, though, NBC's Powerless may not be part of the returning lineup when next autumn rolls around, unless some network-friendly superhero wanted to save the day. While NBC isn't saying the cancellation word yet, here's what Powerless writer and executive producer Patrick Schumaker had to say.

#Powerless will not air this week or next. This, I know for sure. I can guess some other things but they're not good. Thanks for watching.

Indeed, this doomsaying tweet from Patrick Schumacker is verified in non-verbal and non-written forms by NBC, as heading to their website reveals that some evil henchman has apparently hacked the mainframe and removed Powerless from the network's upcoming schedule. Or, I guess, it could have gone down like the EP said, with the DC Comics-branded comedy not airing for at least the next two Thursday evenings due to some possibly "not good" news, such as cancellation.

It's entirely possible that NBC is just postponing those Powerless episodes until a couple of weeks later because...well, there are bound to be reasons that I'm just not able to think of right now. But when a writer and producer puts out the message "Thanks for watching," in such a context, it's hard to believe that Powerless will just be getting retooled again, as it was following the initial pilot's production. Saying goodbye to any kind of comic book property can't be easy, but this would be NBC's second strike following the protested cancellation of Constantine. (The outcry for this superhero-adjacent comedy's cancellation likely won't be as loud, if that is what's happening.)

We might have been a little more shocked by Powerless' absence from NBC's future schedule had things gone more smoothly in the viewership department. One would think that a show starring Vanessa Hudgens and Alan Tudyk, complete with Batman references, could be a huge hit for a network, but the show struggled to bring in numbers that were impressively higher than 2 million viewers with a 0.6 rating in the key adult demographic. In fact, the only programming Powerless dominated last Thursday night was a rerun of Supernatural and Fox's Kicking and Screaming.

At this time, NBC doesn't have any specific shows set to take Powerless' place, although Superstore will be airing in its 8:30 p.m. ET timeslot this week. Perhaps we'll get repeats. Perhaps we'll get some kind of surprise. In any case, keep an eye out for any heroes on skyscrapers that might be looking for new work. Check up with how your other favorite shows are doing with renewals and cancellations with our network TV rundown, and head to our midseason premiere schedule and our summer TV guide to see what's coming to the small screen in the near future.